Opinion: Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert in a league of their own as Alps loom in Tour de France

This Tour de France really is the Pogacar and Van Aert show. Eight days in and the two riders between them have pocketed half the stages and possess three of the four classification jerseys – with the 23-year-old race leader just one fourth-category climb away from making it a full house.

Once again we were treated to the familiar sight of Pogacar’s UAE team-mate Rafal Majka setting a hefty tempo on the front. But as the road flattened out – and the puncheurs found themselves still in contention – the pendulum swung away from the man who had won the previous two stages.

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) launched early, the Australian wary of repeating the same mistake from two days ago in Longwy, when he left it too late and lost out to Pogacar, the day the Slovenian sensation went into yellow.

Paying his BikeExchange-Jayco team back for all their hard work, Matthews got the better of Pogacar – only to see himself get pipped by the clinical late surge from Van Aert.

“I was pinned,” a disappointed Matthews said. “Last time, I waited too long. This time I maybe went too early. But Wout was just amazing today. I did my best and the team rode a great race to deliver me where I needed to be. But, yeah, second again. Hopefully I’m knocking on the door of that win.”

Of course, Van Aert is a rider who knows a thing or two – or three – about coming second: his Tour started with three bridesmaids’ placings in succession. That consistency, plus his two subsequent stage wins – one glorious solo effort into Calais, and now a puncheurs’ delight in Switzerland – means Van Aert now has a staggering 264 points in the green jersey classification, 115 points clear of his closest challenger, the Dutch Stage 2 winner Fabio Jakobsen.

It’s no understatement to say we’re all running out of superlatives when it comes to describing his performances. Just when we think he can’t get any better, he goes and pulls another one out of the bag.

If Jumbo-Visma find themselves thwarted yet again by Pogacar in their quest for yellow, then Van Aert is at least going to deliver a green jersey at the first time of asking.

Pogacar made up for the disappointment of missing out on a hat-trick of stage wins by picking up four bonus seconds for his third place – stretching his lead over Jonas Vingegaard to 39 seconds ahead of Sunday’s gentle mountain opener in the Swiss Alps. The Slovenian will still qualify for the white jersey competition next year, while his win on La Super Planche on Friday saw him move up to second place in the polka dot jersey standings, just one point behind Magnus Cort.

It’s not too far-fetched to think that Pogacar and Van Aert – two riders symbolically locked on eight Tour stage wins apiece, both more than Chris Froome – will possess all four jerseys between them soon. Although it will be part of Van Aert’s job now to ensure that his fellow superhuman doesn’t ride into Paris with the yellow jersey on his shoulders.

It will be fascinating to see if Vingegaard – with the support of Van Aert and Primoz Roglic – can mount a serious challenge now, especially if you throw into the mix Ineos Grenadiers and the four riders they still have in the top 10. My, are we in for a treat.

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